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INTERESTING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Memoranda read by Geo. W. Harris, at a meeting of 
the Hope Fire Connpany of Harrisburg, of \vhich he 
^vas an early member. 



OEX. MICHiEL SIMPSON. 

Ill this ceiitt^iiiiial ySaFor'oiir national 
iiidepoiideuce, it is prop«r to bring to iio- 
tii;e some of tijoae wlio were actively aud 
eti'ectivfcly engaged in its achieveuieut, and 
whose names li.ive nearly faded from tlie 
reoolleclion of Llie public of the pi'esent 
day. it afiords nie pleasure to bring to 
public notice one who in my early years I 
knew personally, and of whose kind and j^e- 
uial manners I have pleasurable recollec- 
tion. This is General Michael Simpson. 
He was a native of this county, his father; 
■ TIibttI55T>i«tipson, owned o80 acres of land, 
a part of which is now within the limits of 
the upper part of Harrisburg. The patent 
to Thomas Simpson is dated the 21st of 
February, 1700, and this land adjoined that 
afterwards the property of William Maclay, 
on a part of which the state Capitol is built. 
The land of Thomas Simpson was origin- 
ally a part of about 1,200 acres surveyed in 
1732 for proprietaries. It fronted on the Sus- 
quehanna, and was afterward, in 1759, re- 
surveyed; and in 1760 was patented in three 
parts, of about the same quantity, to ihree 
persons, whose christian name was Thomas. 
The upper part, of aboutSSO acres and allow- 
ance, was conveyed to Thomas M'Kcf; the 
piece next below, of about 380 acres aiid al- 
lowance, was conveyed to Thomas Forster, 
and the lower piece, also of about 380 acres 
and allowance, was patented to Thomas 
Simpson. 



Vext below the land of Thomas Simpson 
lay a tract of about three hundred acres of 
John Hanis, a part of which, viz, about one 
hundred and eighty acres, afterward bc^- 
longed to William Maclay, as above stated; 
and next below was the Sve hundred acres 
of John Hairis, on which Harrisburg 
was Ittid out, the title to which, William 
Maclay states, was obtained long after set- 
tlement; the title to both tracts of John 
Harris being dated 1733. Upon the death 
of his fatheiv Michael, the subject of this 
sketch, sold 1ms interest in this land of his 
father; aud, I have been told, received in 
payment for it continental money, which 
became nearly worthless. 

He was a revolutionary soldier. In the 
latter part of his life, aud for a number of 
years previous to Lis death, he resided ou a 
farm on the Susquehanna in Yoi'k county, 
about three miles below the Harrisburg 
bridge. This valuable farm consisted of 
several hundred acres, aud originally be- 
longed to the first J6hu Harris, from whom it 
was transmitted down till it came, through 
his marriage with the widow Chesney, to 
whom it then belonged, to the ownership of 
General Simpson. He was a friend of the 
father of the writer of this article, and when 
quite young, perhaps ten or twelve years of 
age, I, with one of my brothers, frequently 
visited him, crossing the river in our log 



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canoe (a kind of boat then much used here') 
and returniug in the afternoon of the next 
day. He occupied a large stone house 
on the river bank, and lived plentifully. 
He always received us with hearty good 
will, and when we were seated at the table 
he seemed to enjoy our healthy appetite 
and would urge us to indulge it. He had 
no children, and seemed to like young 
company. He had a number of colo'-ed 
servants, and they added to our pleasure in 
roaming about the farm or listening to 
their stories of hunting and other matters 
in which they were interested. 

The general was a good deal eccentric. 
His parlor and entry were hung about with 
deer horns, guns, an alligator, a large num- 
ber of Indian and other curiosities. After 
his death these were sold, and I have been 
told that a considerable part of them came 
into the hands of Landis, of Lancaster, and 
formed a part of his exhibition in that city, 
where music on a hand organ, then some- 
what of a rarity about here, was ground 
out by the hour, perhaps to the profit of 
Laudis, but, 1 am inclined to think, to the 
annoyance of the immediate neighbor- 
hood. 

A sister of General Simpson became the 
wife of Parson Eldei-, of the Paxton church. 

The general left his splendid farm to his 
nephew, Michael T. Simpson, who was 
called after him; and it afterward came by 
purchase to the ownership of Mr. Jacob 
M. Haldeman. 

General Simpson had on each side of the 
lane leading toward the rear of his farm a 
row of cherry trees of perhaps a third of a 
mile or more in length. Some of them, 
which ho rt'served for the use of his family 
or friends, had a whisp of straw occasion- 
ally extended around tliem. A man living 
in Harrisburg was once asked, as I under- 
stood, to assist the general with his grass 
or grain harvest, but failed to come. But 
afterwards, as was customary with many 
others, he came lo get cberrres; and, wiih 
out leave, he got upon one of the reserved 
trees. This was told to tbe genera!, who in 
excitemeTit called out to one of bis servants, 
"Rome, Rome, get an axe." His man Rome 
got an axe, and the general cot a Ions stick 
and directing Rome to cut down the tr^e; 
stood beneath it, and kept the man from 
jumping down till the tree was felled. 

'I'he general entered the revolutionary 
army in 1775, as a second lieutenant; his 
commission being dated the 25th of June, 
1775; and he served in the company of Cap- 
tain Matthew Smith and was attached to 
the Quebec expedition. The regiment was 
commanded by Colonel William Thomp- 
son, of Cumberland coTinty, in this state. 
LieutenantSimpson is memioned by Judge 
Henry in his narrative of that campaign. 
Judge Henry was the first president judge 
of the common pleas of Daupbin county. 



being commissioned on the 16Lh of Decem- 
ber, 179tJ. One of the companies in that 
expedition was that of Captain William 
Hendricks, from Cumberland county, Penn- 
sylvania, and another from Lancaster 
county was commanded, as before men- 
tioned, by Captain Matthew Smith. Henry, 
then a lad of about seventeen or eighteen 
years of age, was a private in tbe company 
of Captain Smith. Others of the troops 
were from Massachusetts, hhode island 
and Connecticut, and perhaps some fiom 
New Hampshire. Captain Daniel Morgan, 
afterward of revolutionary fame, was along 
with riflemen from Virginia. The entire 
fi>irce amounted to abouc 1,100 men and 
was under the command of General Ar- 
nold. It was intended to co operate with 
the army of General Montgomery, which 
had entered Canada by tbe way of Cham- 
plain and Montreal. The force under Ar- 
nold was to advance by the Kennebec and 
Chaudiere. 

Judge Henry, in his narrative, speaks 
kindly of Lieutenant Simpson. He says 
that on one occasion, alter a fatiguing 
march, they stopped on tbe side ot a river 
swollen with rain, and running with a 
rapid current and about 150 or iiOO yards 
'u breadUi. But the provisions, tents and 
camp equipage were on tbe opposite side 
of tUe stream. "We supposed that tiie most 
adventurous boatman would not dare the 
passage across to us. But we were mis- 
taken ; there were two men, and only two, 
who had skill and courage to dare it ; need 
Lieutenant Simpson, on an occasion like 
this, be named. He, accompanied by John 
Tidd, entered his empty boat. What skill 
in boatmansbip? What aptitude with 
the paddle was here exhibited. * * * 
Simpson 'displayed his amazing skill.' 
There was an eddy in tbe stream, but even 
that was frightful. He came near being 
pitched into the stream. The stream forced 
nis boat down tbe liver, l)ut be recovered 
and brought it up. Now W(^ a)lp ■ ^'R■ffi ||l 
trembling fur the fate of our r-ieiids, and 
anxious for our own accommodation, be- 
gan to fear that he might be drawn under 
tbe pitch. Quick, almost in a moment, 
Simpson was with us, He called, in his 
li.ud voice, lo Robert Dixon, James Old, a 
messmate, and myself, to euter the boat. 
We entered immediaiely. He pushed off, 
attempting the start by favor of the eddy, 
which was the main thing. He failed. 

"Returning to the shore we were assailed 
by a numerous band of soldiers, hungry 
and anxious to be with their companions. 
Simpson told them that be could not carry 
more with safety, and would return for 
them. But several jumped into tbe boat. 
Simpson's countenance changed, and he 
said, 'O God, men, we shall all die.' 
They wculd not recede. Nearing the op- 
posite shore some of the men leaped to the 




shore aud thus forced Ibe boat into the 
stream. The boai. was carried under by 
the violence of the current. I called out, 
''Simpson, we are going to heaven !" My 
fall was head foremost. Simpson came 
after me. His heels, at the depth of fifteen 
feet or more, were upon my head and neck, 
and these grinding on the gravel. We 
were nearly together — 1 first, my friend 
followed. The art of swimming, in which 
I thought myself an adept, was tried, but it 
was a topsy-turvy business ; the force of the 
water thiew me often heels-ovei'-head. 
After a few hundred yards, Simpson was at 
my side ; but the force of the stream pre- 
vented the exertion of swimming, yet its 
impetuosity kept us up. it drove us to- 
wards the other side of the river, against a 
long ridge of perpendicular lock of great 
extent. As we floated along an Irishman, 
an excellent soldier, Edward Cavanaugh, 
passing along, happened to come to the 
river at the instant that my breast had 
struck a tree. He cried out, 'Johnny, is 
this you,' aud he dragged me out of the 
water. Simpson immediately appearing, 
he did him the same good otlice. Dixon 
not being able to swim, it was supposed' 
had been drowned; but he had stuck to the 
side of the boat and was lodged in a pile of 
drifc wood and was saved. We arrived at 
the camp. Simpson was so mucLi exhilar- 
ated by our escape that, seated on a stump, 
he sang 'Plaio' in great glee. It became a 
great favorite with us. I lost my knapsack, 
my hat and my most precious rifle." 

in a subsequent part of the narrative of 
Judge Henry, Simpson is again mentioned : 
"When thepaity,hungry and dejected, were 
sitting about a tire, Simpson, to aiiimdte 
the company, would sing 'Piatu.' His 
sonorous vulce gave spirit to my heart, aud 

to my 
not so 
correiit as that of Haniel, added strength 
and vigor to our nerves." 

Outhe next day, November 3, Henry 
observes, that here, for the first time, 
"Aaron Burr, a most amiable youth of 
twenty, came to my view — he was then a 
cadet, i' wHl require most cogent evidence 
toconviiiC iny mind, that he ever intended 
any ill u> his country, of late years, by his 
various sj.eculations. Though diflering in 
political opinion from him, no reason has 
yet been laid before me to induce a belief 
that he was traitorous to his country; how- 
ever, take this as the wayward ideas of a 
person totally excluded from a knowledge 
of the secrets of the cabinet, who was 
somewhat attentive to its operations so far 
as newspaper information can elucidate." 
Subsequently, Henry speass well of Simp- 
son, when Dixon was struck in the leg by 
a cannon ball that was fired near to Quebec, 
from which wound he died. He speaks in 
favorable terms of Dixon and observes that 



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the morality of die song, consolation 
mind. In truth"the music, though i 



he was a gentleman, and owned property in 
West Hanover township, then in Lancaster 
county, now in Dauphin; and he remarks 
that the blood of Dixon was the tirst obla- 
tion upon the altar ot Libeity at Quebec. 

Henry was taken prisoner in the attack 
upon Quebec, which took place upon the 
first day of January, 1776. Simpson was 
then away, under an order of Gen. Arnold 
on the 29th of December, 1775, and was, 
therefore, not engaged on the attack upon 
the city. 

Upon the termination of the attack upon 
Quebec, Simpson returned with the balance 
of the army. The regiment of Col. Thomp- 
son had been engaged for the term of one 
year, which expired on the 1st of July, 1776. 
Portions of the regiment re-enlisted, and 
Col. Thompson, having been appointed 
brigadier general, the regiment came under 
the command of Col. Hand, of Lancaster 
county. Captain Smith being absent on 
recruiting service and First Lieut. Steel hav- 
ing been taken prisoner at Quebec, the 
company was probably under the command 
of Lieut. Simpson in the battle of Long 
Island. 

This regiment was the first regiment of 
the Pennsylvania line. 

Simpson was afterward appointed cap- 
tain on the first of December, 1776. The regi- 
ment wjs engaged iu the battle of Trenton 
of the 26th of December, 1776; in that of 
Princeton on the 3d of January, 1777; in 
that of Brandywine on the 11th of Sept., 
1777, and in the battle of White Plains on 
the 24th of October, 1776. 

In January, 1^79, he addressed a letter to 
the supivme executive C')uucil containing a 
request for clothing, which request, it ap- 
pears, was not granted. The letter, writ- 
ten in a fair, manly hand, was as follows: 

To the Honorable the Supreme Executive ^ 
Council of the State of Pennsylvania — \ ■ 
Gentlemen: V)^en Captain Laug arrived 
at camp I had obtained a furlough to go 
home, after a fatiguing campaign, in par- 
ticular from the 12th of August until the 
army was ordered to march from Freder- 
icksburg. I was in the infantry on the 
enemy's line with Colonel Gest, under the 
command of General Scott, when, in Sep- 
tember last, a detachment with Colonel 
Gest was surrounded by the enemy and 
twenty-seven privates and two officers made 
prisoners; they took my clothing, great 
coat and boots. Not being able to get a 
supply of clothing from Captain Lang I do 
humbly request your honors to allow me a 
supply out of the state store, viz: 

Cloth for great coat. 

1 pair of boots. 

4 shirts and 4 pair of hose. 

1 pair shoes and 1 pair buck'n breeches. 
Michael Simpson. 
Capt 1st Penna. Reg't. 

Philadelphia, 12 Jan., 1779. 



\j^iiCt^ 



[Endorsed ] 
Capt. Simpson, Jan'y 12, 1779. Petition 
dismisseil as being coutrary to a rule laid 
d(>wn by tbe council not to deliver clothing 
to any officer whose regiment was at camp 
in any case except a prisoner and wounded. 

The soldiers of the Peniisylvania line 
were enlisted for three years or during the 
war. About the 1st of January, 1781, hap- 
pened the revolt of llie Pennsylvania line. 
Tbe soldiers claimed their discharge, con- 
tending that though the war was not 
terminated, they were entitled to dis.'harge 
at the termination of three years of service. 
This cj[uesiiou arose daring the late war 
and was decided in favor i/f the soldiers. 
Tht; rH^iuiHUts were eveiiluilly c aisoli- 
dated iu;o six regiments, and ihere being 
supernumeiary officers, iSimpsuu retired 
from the service. This was on or about 
the 1st ot Jaiuiary, 1781. Fie had also 
sei'ved in G-eneral Sullivan's campaign 
against the northern Indians in 1779. Soon 
after he left ihe army he got married. 

A brother of Michael Simpson, William 
Simpson, w.is at Bosio'i during its invest- 
ment. 1 have heaid that seeing a cannon 
ball from a Briiish gun rolling over the 
plain, and not sufficiently estimating its 
force, he put out his foot to arrest it, but 
it brol<e his leg. This hnppened on the 
27th of August, 1775, and the wouncl re- 
sulted in his death. 

As to tlie personal appearance of General 
Simpson my cwn iinpressi9n is that he was 
a iarge, powerful man near to six feet in 
height; and a highly respectable aged lady 
now residing in Harrisburg, confirms this 
statement, and added that "he looked like 
a general." 

He had a remarkably loud, clear voice, 
and I have it from en. dibble authority — 
from one who had frequently percieved it 
and wlio is now residing in Harrisburg, 
that he could be heard across the Susque- 
hanna in calling to his servants about the 
farm, or to the boatmen on the opposite 
side of the river, the river being there three 
quarters of a mile or more in widih. The 
general owned the ferry on the York county 
side of the river, and for awhile leased tbe 
Chambers ferry on the opposite or east side 
of the river. Ttie water at that ferry, at 
low water, was rather deeper than at the 
ferry at Hanisburg. 

I have been informed that when General 
AVashington Avas in this neighborhood dur- 
ing the disturbances in western Pennsylva- 
nia, lie paid a visit to General Simpson at 
his farm. Washington was at Hairisburg 
in 1794 and went as far west as Bedford, 
where he was on the 19th of October. 
From this he turned toward the east, leav- 
ing the army to proceed westward under 



the command of General Hamilton. Wash- 
ington reached Philadelpiiia on ihe 28th of 
October, where congress was about to as- 
semble in the month of November. If he 
visited General Simpson it was probably 
on his return from Bedford. 

The song about Plato, I have been in- 
f )rmed, was often sung by llie geneial. So 
far I have not been able v\ trace it, or a part 
of it might have been attaclied to this. 

The general was married a sec )ud time. 
His second wife was a widow lady of Bed- 
ford, in this state, a remarkably tine look- 
ing English woman. [ understand that he 
was then about sevei ty years of age, and 
his groooisuiau was twenty-tive. 

The geneial is nuried in the grave yard 
of the Paxton church. 1 undersLand that 
he had tiie iron ! ailing which is now there, 
pit-pared tor or plai'cd around the ground 
which li(^ destined for hi> own burial place. 
This laiiing, I thiuk, was the tiist one 
erec ed in tlie Paxtou trave yard, and per- 
haps was the first One erei ted in any grave 
yarn in tiiis neiglib nhood. It was not then 
cus (jmary here loftnce around the dead, or 
to build s.fiendid trophies in their honor, 
or to do mure tlian put over or near to thtir 
resting [il.ice some inexpensive memorial, 
sometime.-i — 

" With uiiooutU rliymes an'l shapeless sculpture 
decked," 

but, generally, with mention of their name 
and years, and sometimes days; their vir- 
tues often biietly proclaimed; but their 
faults or frailties unacknowledged. 

General Simpson was possess'id of amia- 
bLe qualities. He was a warm friend, kind, 
liberal and obliging, and by his neigiihors 
was liked and respected. 

He died on' June 1, 1813, age 73. 1 have 
heard that when lie died_ihe clock in his 
house stopped. As to thi.s* 

I do ivit ^<ay "now the truth may tic, 
I say tue tale as 'twas said to me." 

Whilst we are engaged in commemo 
rating the events ot our revolutionary strug- 
gle and rescuing from nblivion or bringing 
to public notice the names and services of 
those known to ns who risked their lives 
and fortunes in a cause, by many consid- 
ered doulitfiil in lesult for a considerable 
time aftei' the conflict began, let us not for- 
get that there were many others who died in 
the hospital, the prison ship, or tlie battle 
field, whose names and particular services 
have been forgotten. As to these let us 
say what some of them might have thought: 

"Needs there the praise of the love written 

record, 
The name and the epitaph graved on the stone ; 
The things that we lived for, let them be oui 

story, 
We ourselves remembered only by what -we have 

done." 

July, 1876. Geo. W. Hakkis. 



PLATO . 

The following, discoveredin " Tlie Southern and Western Songster," is the 
song sung by Lieutenant Simpson. In sentiment it resembles the poem 
repeated, from memory, by President Lincoln, and which ivas written by 
William Knox, of Scotland. 



"Says Plato, Why should Man be Vain?" 



Says Plato, why sliould man be vaii), 

Since bounteous Heaven hath made him great; 
Why look with insolent disdain 

On those undecked with wealth or state ? 
Can splendid robes, or beds of down, 

Or costly gems that deck the fair ; 
Can all the glories of a crown 

Give health, or ease the brow of care ? 

The sceptred king, the burthened slave, 

The humble and the haughty die ; 
The rich, the poor, the base, the brave 

In dust without distinction lie. 
Go search the tombs where monarchs rest, 

Who once the greatest titles bore ; 
The wealth and glory they possessed 

And all their honors are no more. 

So glides the meteor through the sky. 

And spreads along a gilded train ; 
But when its short-lived beauties die. 

Dissolves to common air again. 
So 'tis with us, my jovial souls, 

hot friendship reign while here we stay ; 
Let's crown our joys with flowing bowls, 

When Jove us calls we must obey. 



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